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Monday, September 8, 2008

Block Love

I've been a little obsessed lately with an amazing little book that I found during a lunch hour trip to Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks back. I wound up ordering it through Amazon a few days later. The book is called Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix & Match, and it's full of 9" block patterns ranging from very basic to very intricate. I wouldn't say I'm "into" Asian decor or anything, but something about these blocks -- maybe the simplicity, the stark use of solid colors, the intricacy, the effect of repeated patterns -- really speak to me. I pored over this book while I was recovering from surgery and couldn't wait to make a few of the blocks. Well, this past weekend I was able to make four of them, and here they are:

All of the fabrics are from Amy Butler's solids line (which I also LOVE). With some cream sashing around each block, I think they will become my ALQS2 swap quilt ... well, that was my original intent, but I'm quite tempted to keep going and make myself a larger quilt from these blocks.

Hi John,I just stumbled on your blog from the ALQS site, and just wanted to say that these are fabulous! This may be my next book to hunt down on half.com! All your stuff is great - thanks for blogging everything!

John, I'm so happy my book has inspired you and I love your ultra pastel versions of those blocks! I'm an Amy Butler fan too. The original versions of those blocks used a dark blue tsumugi by Olympus (Japan) from Euro Japan Links Limited in the UK and the shot cottons for the mid blues were Colourshott by Oakshott (handwoven in India). I'll be posting photos of the sampler quilts from "Japanese Quilt Blocks" on my blog in a few days time - they are touring the Grosvenor Exhibitions autumn quilt shows in the UK right now. BTW, the Kodansha International edition of JQB is about to be reprinted, so if it is temporarily unavailable in the USA, please wait for it to reappear in the bookstores! Best wishes, Susan